Last Friday, 3,943 miles south of the North Pole, here in Macon, Georgia, the Northern Lights were visible with the naked eye. They twirled and danced across the sky. They left pink and purple hues and colored the moon. I drove my family out into dark farm country away from city lights and we beheld the spectacle. The next day, I posted a piece on here, “What a Time to Be Alive,” with pictures.
In that 398-word post, I noted how so much of the world had a shared, global experience. People from Australia to Alaska were posting pictures on social media. People who had never seen the Northern (or Southern) Lights were in awe of God’s creation. Thanks to modern technology, many people could capture the experience with amazingly capable cameras pulled from their pockets and they could transmit those pictures to friends globally. Since then, my mind has returned again and again to a commenter on that short post.
He commented, “Too bad that about a million children murdered in the womb each year will never get to see those Northern Lights. So, although I thank God every day for the life He's given me, as a down payment on the greatest gift of all, of Salvation, I do not see this as wonderful "time" to be alive. It's a heartbreaking time to be alive, and this is a heartbreaking country.” When I replied, “Way to bring everybody down,” he replied in part, “These decisions of mankind are often, frankly, putrid, and we live with them and mourn of them. There were almost certainly Northern Lights in 65 AD when Nero was slaughtering Christians in the Coliseum, but I don't think Paul, Peter and John would have written of how great it was to be alive.”
Last night, my daughter graduated high school. Just over seven years ago, doctors gave her mother — my wife — two years to live. When we enrolled our kids in their school, my wife set up a meeting with the principal and headmaster to get them to promise they’d look after our kids and their education because she would be dead before either of our children graduated. It was a fate my wife knew well, as her mother died when my wife was young. Two generations of women in the family would walk across a graduation stage with an emptiness none could fill. I remember telling my producer years ago, “Do you realize I’m going to be a widower before my kids graduate high school? Before I’m fifty?”
But because of this time in which we live and modern medicine and technology, my wife has defied the odds and watched our daughter walk across the stage, get her diploma, and turn her tassel last night. My wife’s father and mother (her step-mom adopted her after we got married) were there with us. Yes, it is truly an amazing time to be alive.
Early Christians faced relentless persecution and, even in that persecution, converted the Roman Empire because of their joy. Paul, Peter, and John thought it was a great time to be alive because they came face to face with Jesus Christ, the long-awaited Messiah, and shared His gospel. After being beaten, they rejoiced “that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.” Acts 5:41 (ESV)
Despair because of the world and its fallenness is a choice. It is a choice people on the secular left have made because they think there is no eternity and this world is dying. It is a choice people on the religious right have made because they know there is sin, but they forget the Spirit still moves “[a]nd we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 (ESV) “Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favor is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” Psalm 30:4-5 (KJV).
Many people have chosen to be victims, angry or despairing at the world around them. It is a choice to be angry all the time. It is a choice to decide this is a “heartbreaking time to be alive, and this is a heartbreaking country.” I see it among those who are always online and obsessed with the news, which feeds on and festers malcontentedness. “Don’t you know what time it is?” they ask angrily as they reject the fruits of the Spirit for the spirit of the age.
John said he “rejoiced greatly” at the spread of the gospel. Peter said, “Rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ.” Paul said to “rejoice always and pray without ceasing.” Most importantly, Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled” and to “be of good cheer.”
Some people focus on the bad and decide it is a heartbreaking time to be alive and that this country is heartbreaking. That is a choice, and it is the wrong one. It is alienating and will fester. It fails to put the world in its proper place and perspective. The commenter may not even realize it, but if he insists he is heartbroken by these times and this country, it undoubtedly has negatively impacted his witness, relationships, and soul. Who in their right mind wants to be around the person who sees those excited by God’s wonder and our ability to share it with each other and then chooses to comment on how terrible everything is? Who wants to see the fallen depravity of man that has been there since the Fall and decide it should be the object of fixation instead of the advance of the kingdom, medicine, and life?
The world has always had child sacrifice. We only recently got the cures for so many diseases. This country has always had sinners. But today, more children across races will be rescued from orphanages and abortions than two decades ago. More American missionaries will go into the field than a hundred years ago. Millions of people on the African continent will be spared disease because of American taxpayers and programs. In two days, millions of American Christians will go to churches to worship across this country without fear of death, and they’ll send out American missionaries to countries where death is a real possibility for Christians. The world fell at Eden. God is good. The Kingdom advances. The Spirit is active. What an amazing time to be alive.
If Christianity could not arrive until the Roman Empire existed, making it possible for it to spread easily across the earth, Christ could not come back until “every eye [can] see him” (Rev 1:7)—a moment in time that did not exist until now, when the whole world can witness the same thing at the same time in a collective, shared experience streamed globally digitally at the speed of light to the device in the palm our hands. That excites me. We move closer daily to eternity, and God shows us wondrous things along the way. Hallelujah and amen.
A week ago, “I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north—an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light.” Ezekiel 1:4 (NIV). Last night, my wife defied the odds and watched our daughter graduate high school. Yes, it is an amazing time to be alive. Despair in a fallen world is a choice. But you can choose joy, which cometh in the morning.
Erick
This is the day the Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it. Ps 118:24
Thank you once again for bringing faith and hope into your perspective. Great article
Bob
First Baptist
Cumming GA
Absolutely beautiful. Thank you for putting life in proper perspective. Congratulations to your daughter and continued health for your wife. God bless you Mr. Erickson and your entire family.